Saturday, 3 January 2009

Star Wars Legacy: The Malevolence/ Issue 27 Review

Well I've decided to make it my mission to tell you about the different groups that exist in Star Wars Legacy, starting with the force users; the Sith, then the Jedi and the new Imperial Knights. And that might have been all you expected, indeed I myself had anticipated no more, but in the 27th issue, the Legacy team introduced us to a more minor force weilding group that call themselves The Malevolence and as what happens with them takes up the bulk of the issue then I'll chuck in the issue review while I'm at it.

The Malevolence

The Malevolence were a Dark Side cult that existed on the world of Prakith, in the temple where Dark Lord Andeddu's temple was hidden. Drawn to the dark power in the place, whatever people had founded the movement stayed and settled in Andeddu's Keep hidden amongst impassable rocks, far from any civilization on the planet. While in knowledge of skills such as telikenisis and lightsaber crafting the group lacked the training of Jedi or Sith and were very much slaves of the dark side, scrabbling a living in the ruins, and dressed in mere rags and scraps of armour. However they had held the keep for a century and sings of battle suggested that they might have been succesful in defeating a siege, but their skills would be sorely tested with the arrival of Lord Wyrrlok.

Demtri was a member of the Malevolence group who came to guard the keep from intruders. The intruder, however, was Darth Wyyrlok who used his alter mind ability to make it appear that he was in several places at once, but in fact he had put his image on the cult members, making them fight each other - in the end Demtri was struck down by a lightsaber blow to the chest.

Gerlun lead the group who met the intruder to their keep and he too was affected by Wyrrlok's ability over the mind. It was only when he struck down Demtri that the illusion was broken and he realised they were fighting each other, but by then it was too late. Darth Wyyrlok dispatched the group with force lightning, sparing only Gerlun to serve him. Gerlun led him to the lower levels of the keep, where Andedu's tomb was hidden, but Wyyrlok only wanted to look at the scrolls. He decided to take his vengeance by resurrecting the Dark Lord, which he did, but Andeddu sucked out his life to revitalise his body, killing Gerlun.

Though his presence was only on Prakith for a short time, his dark side power and tomb drew the group of followers that called themselves the Malevolence. At some time Andeddu found a way to keep his spirit potent enough to control his body, even after it had died effectively extending his life for an indefinite period. But after some time he was eventually defeated and lost. But his holocron was kept and passed down amongst the Sith, eventually finding it's way into the hands of Count Dooku who showed it to his acolyte Quinlan Vos. The holocron was returned to the tombs at Korriban and consulted by Lord Krayt, but the Holcron and those of Bane and Nihilus refused him their knowledge, denying that he was true Sith and barring him from knowledge of how to defeat the plague on his body. Wyrrlok later consulted the holocron, telling it he knew Andeddu's real tomb wasn't the one found on Korriban in his name. The holocron revealed the true location and lead him to Andeddu's tomb on Prakith, where the Sith Lord of old sprung his trap. Andeddu was actually alive, his "holocron" was actually the Sith himself, hidden in spirit form. He was resurrected and battled Darth Wyrrlok in a battle of the minds, dueling in a deadly force illusion. But he was defeated by Wyrrlok who exposed the Dark Lord's weakness, his fear of death that drove him to such twisted knowledge of the force. Wyrrlok then overpowered and killed him.

It is unknown if there were any more members of the Malevolence or whether Darth Wyrrlok killed them all.

Issue Review

Well as I said that's pretty much it for what happens but I'll fill in a few gaps. The story starts back at the end of the "Claws of the Dragon" arc where Cade escapes from the Sith temple. Darth Krayt is enraged at Nihl and talon for failing him, but at Wyrrlok's council spares them, with instructions for Nihl's arm to be replaced with a Yuuzhan Vong graft and for Talong to be placed in a healing meditation and left to see if she lived or died. The battle took it's toll on Krayt and he went into stasis, Wyrrlok consulted his Sith scrolls for answers and then the holocron, which lead him to Prakith. After defeating Andeddu he took a number of his Sith works for his own study and left with a new determination to restore Lord Krayt and a new confidence in his own power.

My Two Credits

One of the best 'side stories' of the series and a great look at a cool Sith Lord that all the fans had been waiting for and now we hold the Loremaster in even greater respect. The art was bang on, with guest artist Omar Francia making a welcome return to the series and with more of his work lined up it looks like he might become a series regular along with stalwart artist Jan Duursema, who'se artwork and story input powers the series. The story was solid, having us look again at the Sith as more than monsters, yet still clearly the bad guys, which isn't an easy thing to do. The introduction of a new group was exciting and the mind force battles were immense.

Great stuff, next up for Legacy is "Vector" the crossover series bumps into Cade and crew - I haven't caught up with the final issue yet, which came out this week, but I'll do a review at some point I'm sure!!!